Society Members Welcome to Join Legislative Blitz 2010Hosted by the Space Exploration Alliance of which the Moon Society is a member

"From February 21-23, 2010,
the Space Exploration Alliance will be holding its annual Legislative
Blitz. The blitz comes at a crucial moment in the formulation of space
policy. At the end of October, the Final Report of the “Review of U.S.
Human Spaceflight Plans Committee”, better known as the “Augustine
Commission”, was released.
http://www.nss.org/resources/library/spacepolicy/HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf.
In that report, entitled, “Seeking a Human Spaceflight Program Worthy
of a Great Nation”, the Commission found that NASA simply can not
accomplish the goals with which it has been tasked unless it receives
an additional $3 billion in annual funding. In the current economic
climate, however, it is uncertain which path our nation’s leaders will
now take in response to the Augustine Commission’s findings. An
increase in funding is not necessarily the path that will be chosen." -
writes Chris Carberry, Space Policy Consultant to the Space Exploration
Alliance.

This is something that all advocates of Manned Space
Exploration can support, whether one is a Moon only or Mars only or
Asteroids only or a Moon, Mars, and asteroids person. It looks as
though Ares-1 will be scrapped in favor of Commercial Alternatives such
as Space-X Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule. But as Buzz Aldrin pointed out,
Ares-5 would support all proposed Manned Space Options: Moon, Mars,
Asteroids.

It will not be long before the interval between Kitty
Hawk and Apollo 11 is matched by the interval between Apollo 17 and the
next manned Moon Landing and what a sad achievement that would be for a
nation founded by frontier pioneers! We cannot let our nation lose its
Frontier Pioneering spirit, though it is no secret many Americans
already have. Such a loss would recall the beginnings of the Fall of
the Roman Empire, once deemed eternal. So pushing the nation to keep on
a frontier pioneering path is vitally important, and hard budgetary
times cannot and must not be allowed to interfere with pursuit of
horizons beyond Earth.

Already we have a Metro-Global Economy.
The amount of economic activity in low and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit
is enough by itself, to rank as the 50th largest economy on Earth.
And progress up that ranking ladder is bound to continue to grow. In
other words, we all ready have an "Econosphere" 60,000 miles wide.

The
further buildout of LEO and GEO will be accelerated with the
availability of building materials brought down the gravity well from
the well's shoulder, where the Moon sits. And that will expand the
Econosphere to encompass the entire Earth-Moon system. Raw materials
from Mars' moonlets and from the asteroids will soon follow.

Exo-economics is something new, and we'll be hearing more about it.

Space
enthusiasts need to put their petty tribal rivalries to rest and
support those efforts needing Congressional support that will enable
all these futures.

If you live near the DC area, or consider
this event worth a visit, please hookup with the Space Exploration
Alliance team. Members of our affiliate, The National Space Society,
and of our friendly rival The Mars Society, will be joining in the
experience.

If you do live in the DC Metro Area, you may want to let Society Board member Fred Hills
of Herndon, VA know. Fred is trying to arrange a meeting of Society
members in the area to discuss formation of a chapter. There are more
Moon Society members in the DC metro area than in any other metro area
in the country! Yet we do not have a chapter there as yet. A group participation in this event would be a super way to get that ball rolling!